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Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

NESTLE FACTORY in Sao Paulo, Brazil by METRO ARQUITETOS ASSOCIADOS

The main intention for the design of Nestle´s factory visiting areas was to create a landmark in the generic landscape of the highway that connects São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, revealing the existence of a public and accessible space. This visibility is achieved by the installation of two steel framed glass towers, which are connected to foot bridges that roads and wraps the existing building, granting access to the elevated walkway inside the factory. In this manner, visitors and service traffic are kept apart from each other. The structural geometry and the materials used were designed to trigger a sensorial and perceptive experience and to contribute for a clearer comprehension of the history and production of chocolates throughout visitation.

This work is an intervention inside the existing Nestlé chocolate factory. Built in the 60’s, it was designed to receive the general public, but in a very precarious way and without any museological attribute.

This design solved a major issue which was the organization of visitors and production flux, transforming the simple visitation circuit in a museum with interactive content and also added a strong characteristic to a building which was, until then, quite ordinary.

Two external towers and footbridges were created. Each tower houses stairs and an elevator, the shortest bridge serves as the entrance, and the longest one for exiting, both parallel to the highway.

The steel structure of the towers and footbridges are made up by tubular pieces, making up also for the support for the glass and expanded metal sheet panels. The floors made up of perforated metal sheet contribute to the natural ventilation and draining; the roofs are made of steel panel with an EPS core to improve its thermo-acoustic performance. The structure is made up of non-coplanar triangular mesh 2.5m high repeating every 10m. This shape, apart from making the structure more rigid and slender, makes the glass reflect different parts of the landscape. Footbridge I, supported by metallic columns and beams with varying sections, has a 10m span between the supports and a 27.5m span between the last column and the tower. Footbridge II has a 15m span and a 5m cantilever to the building.

Inside the circuit, 10 thematic colors were chosen, based on the production scheme of the factory, from the raw materials going through the different stages of production until the final packaging phase. Circular windows were opened in strategic spots. Each core has specific colors and materials, as well as soundtracks and scenography.